But analysts say his civilian supporters continue to be targeted, along with what Ambassador Power described Saturday as “a huge surge in sexual violence against women” who leave the crowded Juba refugee camp to gather firewood or other family necessities.
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Representatives of the United Nations Security Council who are now in Juba held talks with South Sudanese president Salva Kiir on Sunday over the deployment of additional peacekeeping troops to the country.
“The Security Council came to achieve what we have secured”, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said.
In the resolution, the council pledged to discuss imposing a possible arms embargo on South Sudan if U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reports back in mid-September that the government was not cooperating on the force and was obstructing the work of peacekeepers on the ground.
Protecting civilians has become an even more critical issue after fighting erupted in the capital, Juba, in July, killing hundreds and sparking fears of a return to civil war in the already devastated country.
The 4000-strong forces will join the existing 12,000 peacekeepers serving under the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). United Nations officials say the new force needs more than two months to deploy.
But on Monday, Cabinet Minister Martin Elia Lomuro told reporters the government must agree on the number of troops, the countries they come from and the arms they carry.
South Sudan can reject deployment of soldiers from a country it’s not comfortable with, Lomoro said at the same press conference Monday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was meant to be private.
Political rivalry between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar led a civil war in 2013, but although the sides signed a peace deal a year ago, fighting has not stopped.
Aside from the tens of thousands of people killed, the United Nations has reported shocking levels of brutality including gang-rapes and the wholesale burning of villages.
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Ethnic tensions remain. Kiir told council diplomats that the United Nations peacekeeping mission’s neutrality has been compromised because its camps that shelter tens of thousands of South Sudanese mostly are protecting supporters of the opposition, the United Nations official and council diplomat said. South Sudan would need to know what countries would be contributing troops, how long the soldiers would remain in the country and what weapons they would have.
